Sir John Geive - and the crisis in Banking

On Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Lord Patel posted "Sir John Gieve Where are they Now ? Pt 432"

This examined his personal dishonesty at the Home Office over the affairs of David Blunkett and his mistress (who was also many other's mistress as well)..it ended...


Strangely enough Sir Ian Gieve who moved on sideways shortly after these trying times in 2005 to the Bank of England as Deputy Governor for Financial Stability - a move which a PPE from St John's, Osxford and a DPhil in Philosophy were not an ideal background.

Anyway Sir John, appears in today's papers not in the role of the husband of the solicitor who acts on behalf of a lady who has asked her lover the Home Secretary to whizz a visa through for her maid. He doesn't appear as the aquiescent servant of the public interest when the Metropolitan Police chief on behalf of his murdering officers, seeks to dismiss the legal requirements of Section 17 of the Police Reform Act 2002.

No he appears as an economic savant when speaking yesterday at the University of Surrey at Guildford, and that he has concerns about 'spectacular growth' in borrowing for buyout and private equity deals which he opines could endanger the banking system and cause a sharp financial downturn.

He said the crisis must be controlled by higher interest rates. It appears from the publication of the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee that Sir John joined Bank Governor Mervyn King and two other members in a minority on the Monetary Policy Committee last month in calling for rates to be increased from the current 5.5pc to 5.75pc.

He explained to his audience yesterday that he was more concerned about the inflationary dangers of unchecked credit growth than the risk of causing an unnecessary slowdown in the economy.

It warms the cockles of your heart that we are blessed with such a banker at the heart of our monetary system. Banker is, Lord Patel is led to understand by the more raucous of his colleagues code for wanker - not a term one could apply to this guy who could not possibly combine the required physical ability with the mental capacity to sustain the event ... well not simultaneously anyway... even with a little help.

The Speech at Guildford quoted is available here and is well worth reading to see what a bunch of headless chickens run the Treasury and the BOE.

Stop Press

Alastair Darling has just announced on BBC4 Radio that ALL deposits at NR are guaranteed by the Government. Madness. More later.